Get to know Mr Adam Hoots: Construction Professional, Entrepreneur, Trades Advocate, Author and the list goes on. His story takes us from his entry into the workforce as the result of a gift he received on his 17th birthday. The experience he had as a plumbers helper informed the way he serves the Construction Community today. His purpose and vision are contagious and he is a pretty deep thinker that never hesitates to share the stage or honor the people that have contributed to his place in the world
Connect with us at: https://www.learningsandmissteps.com/
Connect with Adam at: https://constructionachesolutions.com/
Get to know Mr Adam Hoots: Construction Professional, Entrepreneur, Trades Advocate, Author and the list goes on. His story takes us from his entry into the workforce as the result of a gift he received on his 17th birthday. The experience he had as a plumbers helper informed the way he serves the Construction Community today. His purpose and vision are contagious and he is a pretty deep thinker that never hesitates to share the stage or honor the people that have contributed to his place in the world
Connect with us at: https://www.learningsandmissteps.com/
Connect with Adam at: https://constructionachesolutions.com/
+I'm nervous right now. Like
Jesse:what are you nervous about?
Adam:Really, really good questions, Jesse. You're really you're really helping make me better. I don't know if you know that or not, but man, I am so thankful for you. Like your ability to ask questions. It's pretty profound. I'll just put it to you that way. That's why I'm nervous. And I wish you could hear my sound effects cause I got the scary one.
Jesse:Oh, yeah, that's my buddy, Mr. Adam hoots. He began his career as a plumber's apprentice. And you're going to hear a pretty funny little story about how we got that first year. And now he's a major contributor in bringing respect back to the trade. So now, you know why he's on the show in the next 80 minutes or so Adam is going to get you pumped up about some super cool things that are happening in our industry. And what the future looks like for us. And He also lays down the wisdom he uses for selecting the mentors in his life and living his purpose, He's also a cheater. Not that kind of cheater Adam cheated and asked me a couple of questions and got me to reveal my Ikigae. What's an Ikigae. Well, stay tuned and you will find out exactly what Ikigae is. Another little reminder that we do have a Patreon account where you can sign up all of your contributions are going to go to keeping us commercial free and helping us and had some of the stuff, you know, now we're using descript and we're doing some other little things because we got a little bit of cash coming in that, you know, help improve the quality of these podcasts. And almost stopped talking and you to start listening to Mr. Adam hoots. Here we go. The whole point of this is to highlight the careers and thetrades and we do that by honoring you and, and sharing your story.
Adam:We're going to honor the trades people, the important people. Cause my story don't really matter, Jesse. I'm just like an old washed up trades guy now.
Jesse:Yeah. But that's the thing there's trades people out there that think they're limited. There's a cap on them and you're proof that there is it. And then there's people out there that think trades people are just only ever going to be trades people. And you're proof that that's false. So it's, providing an image of, for people to see that says, yeah, what you thought is wrong.
Adam:It's really the disrespect that drove me out. Nobody wants to live like that. That's change, man. I almost feel a little guilty for encouraging people. I come into the trades because we haven't fixed that respect for your existence thing yet.
Jesse:Well, here we are with Mr. Adam hoots coming in from South Carolina. Adam, can you guess where I'm at man, New York city. Not yet. I'm in Kansas city today, Kansas city, trying to work off a big, giant beef rib that I had out at a Jack Black barbecue. And I got to say it, Kansas city. Barbecue is the best.
Adam:I plead the
Jesse:fifth.
Adam:Great. You're in and out here, you, you you didn't give us a chance. No,
Jesse:one day I got to go hit up that South Carolina barbecue man, as good as though all my people here at back home in Texas, they hate it. When I say Kansas city has got the good stuff, but they do so far so far. I love it. So, Adam, thank you, man, for giving us some time. I know you had a ball game this morning. How did that go?
Adam:Two an hour this morning, Jesse. So it's yeah, we just getting back to the season. It's the fall season, love the coach bill. Henderson's amazing. He squeezes an entire fall season in before college football starts. So that's my man. Yeah, he's got a solid plan. He does the kids well, but yeah, they went to, and I'm very proud of him. You know, boy made some amazing defensive plays. It's funny, you know, he went over one with a strikeout. Well, he had four walks, 16 balls. He was so selective at the plate. I'm so proud of him. And like the couple of defense, like, oh my goodness. It in a patients is a, is something he's learning from his mom. I really, really well
Jesse:OBP and people get caught up on that batting average, but on base percentage, you can't score runs if you're not on base bottom line. That's right. Hmm. Well, Adam, we'll just jump right into it, man. What do you want the LNM family out there to know about you? My friend? Well
Adam:so. I'm an old trades guy. Guess, you know, I started as a plumber's helper did that for a couple of years and realized that you know, it was some really tough work and it wasn't well respected. And so you know, I've, I've seen construction from a lot of different angles and I'm excited to be at a point where, advancement, isn't really the goal. It's really raising other people up around us. I'm excited for that. I love what's happening. Like the energy over the last six months, I was reflecting a lot last night, just what's happened in the last six months, even just starting with that little change makers, pod. And there's some really cool things going on in our industry right now. It's ripe for change and it's happening. And it's fun to be a part of that. So don't know if I answered your question and that's where I'm at right now. That's a, it's really where my head's at.
Jesse:Good, good. you mentioned you started in the trades and I seem to remember that you started. As a result of receiving a special gift. What was that gift, man?
Adam:Yeah, it was the gift of life. So here I am, right. 17 turning 17 years old, and man, I'm so excited cause I just know my dad's going to buy me a brand new car. Right. It's a brand new Mustang. Like that's what I've been talking about. My grades are good. I'm an athlete. Like everything is good and solid and I'm working and I'm like, learn it like just big old gift and the dining room table when I come home and he is a week before. So he made me wait a week as well. Nonetheless. So I get there, man, this thing's like professionally wrapped and it's like just beautiful. And I like ripping this thing open and I open it and it's like, I was so disappointed. I looked at him and just kind of smile with a smirk, like you son of a gun. You know what I was thinking? Like, it's definitely wasn't keys. It was a hard hat. It was a vest, it was brand new boots, Wolverine boots. I'll never forget. And on time, you know, all the, all the PPE I needed to be successful on a job. And then at the bottom was a stack of job applications and they were everything, you know, electrician, the was all people that were working with them at the time on one of the jobs. So yeah, I selected plumber. Don't really know much about it. I just kinda, it looks cool. You know, pipe seems great. Little did I know I would be swimming in shit very soon. So pardon the non PG there, but that's really what it was. What a birthday gift that was. I will never ever forget that nor will I ever do that to my child. My goodness.
Jesse:Maybe a better man than me. Yeah. You're a veteran to me. Cause that's a fantastic
Adam:idea. One of those things, I hated them at the time, but man, right now looking back on it, it's like, okay, I get the purpose. Like I understand what he did, why he did it instilled work ethic in me and a respect for that person and that person's existence. And so you know, again, just recognizing, you know, when you're walking a job and you know, you can grab that and you're like helping them sweep for picking up the tray, like doing things that like you, shouldn't not normally, normally that's not your role. And so it just adds a sense of empowerment and engagement. Like you are one.
Jesse:Now you also mentioned that when you entered the field, there was a lack of respect. Can you describe that for the L and M family out there that that's never been on a job.
Adam:So just to be clear, there's still a lack of respect. Right? You agree with that? Agreed. Yeah, it's it, it was very much a fan and I hate to use these terms. I probably shouldn't, but it was a master slave relationship. It was like a it didn't matter what I said and go do it, period. And I know those are really strong words. And again, you know, I, I, my heart's in the right place. I promise you that. But it, it really felt like you had no choice and you had no say in the matter and it, you did not matter. And so which is the complete opposite of what we're learning right now. Man. It was just, no regard for your existence whatsoever. Like get in that hole full of, you know, Feesey and repair that pipe. And you're looking at it. I'm like, I don't even know what repair that pipe means. And so you're down there, like trying to figure out what size pipe it is. And like all this wasted motion, when a true plumber would've looked at it at the four inch PVC, give me, you know, a couple of fittings in a stack pipe, let's hop down, you know, clean it up and you know, and make it go. So, but you don't know that at the end. So then, you know, they toss you in the hole and they're, there's just laughing at you. Like, you don't know what you're doing and you're riding home, right. To get back home and you have. Cavalier Z 24 with no AC and it's black in Orlando, Florida. And you're just got out of a nasty hole and you're dry. Ooh. You're like the disrespect for yourself even like, not just, how do you respect yourself when you don't have a say you've shut your mouth the whole day. You've been swimming in crap the whole day, and now you're driving the car and I'm hating my dad the whole time. Like, man, what are you doing to me? But you know what? It, it it's, it's hard to explain, but it's. No, it's the it's essential, right? Like you become essential to society in such a way that nobody else is and things don't work right without you. And so when you start to understand that, that brings, brings a whole new sense of respect to the manner. And so that's what I love about learnings and missteps and everything that you do, Jesse is changing the image of the, of the skilled trades, right? Like you're a plumber man, and you got a podcast and you're like, man, you're a lean manager at a billion. Like, and now you're doing crazy things with lifetime and, and like safety and you're taking it to all new levels. And so you're a plumber man. And look what you're doing. Like, look what you started. That's so cool to see that come to fruition. And, I just I admire that and want to encourage others and empower others, make that happen.
Jesse:Oh man. Thank you. Thank you Adam. I mean, you know, one thing that that's important to know. Yeah. Along it, it happened as a result of beautiful, amazing people coming into my life. I mean, all the way back to some of those mentors, Johnny Martinez, you know, my old man Papa, Juan Sid Wilkerson, Jim Jones. I mean, there's tons of people that you, Jennifer Lacy felt like all the way through my career that that have made major impact on my thinking and the way I see things and helped me believe in myself because my, when I think of things, all I think of is I see my self image. My self image is that skinny little troublemaking plumber from the south side of San Antonio. I don't think of, you know, what I've done. I've been a part of some pretty amazing things like the Changemakers pot or the construction Changemakers. Live-streaming that we've been. Like I'm up there with ballers and I'm like do I belong here? Like, what am I, what am I doing here? Do they know? Do they know who they invited to the party? But again, it's, it's a result of being blessed with amazing human beings along the way,
Adam:create that vision at first. Like how, like that's something again, you know, we talk about getting into schools early and, but yeah. How do we create that vision of success where people can actually visualize that? How did you do that
Jesse:person? Oh man. Damn it. You're not supposed to be asking those kinds of questions. I don't, no, it's a great question. I'll say this it's, it's probably more going on faith of what people see in me than it was what I saw within myself and what I mean by that. So going back to your, your example earlier of, of, you know, fixing that damn busted pipe with crap and toilet paper and corn and baby roots floating all over the place, right? Like if Casey didn't know listeners, it's, there are some less than sexy things that gotta be done out of the industry. And that
Adam:works fine. Sexy, I guess Jessie, some weird people
Jesse:out there. Yeah, that's true. That's true. That'd be on the fans only content.
Adam:I'm always scared when I see that stuff.
Jesse:So the work still has to be done. And, and to your point earlier, that work that has to be done, that's gross and stinky and uncomfortable. Keeps things going for the rest of our community and our society, right. That makes us essential, essential F love the shirt. And, and so if we want to, I, I learned the hard way that we've got to be able to change our perspective on things like the situation is you're in a ditch with turds and you're going to get it all over yourself. That's not going to change, but what I do have control over is changing my perspective about it. So if I see it in the sense of this is crap work, this is gross. This is, you know, blah, blah, blah, then that's what it is. But if I see it as in terms of, and in order to fix this thing, or in order to keep this building functioning and these students, or these doctors, or these lawyers, Keep them functioning and serving the community to their greatest capacity. That's a different thing. It's the same type of work, but it's an absolutely different perspective. Don't get me wrong early on. I did, I was not able to change my perspective on things except that there were some really good people around me that would challenge me I swear for the longest time I worked for TD industries for 17 years and I worked for Turner construction for just over three years. And you know, the same old generic question. Where do you see yourself in five years? Right? Like, come on, man, can you give me something good? My answer was always my dream where I want to be is making more money with less responsibility working from 7:00 AM to 3:30 PM. That's where I want to be in five years. And, and everybody responded just like you did right now. Like what the hell are you talking about? My point is it is very easy. It's a very comfortable space for me to go and lay out some sanitary line, install, some hangers, run some pipe, get it tested, make all the letters, read the same way, make it flow appropriately. No leaks like that's a day, man. But like your, your deal up there. Capability development. There were capabilities within me that had, I only done that those capabilities would not have been developed and had I not developed those capabilities, I would have underserved my community. And so there were people in my life that continued to challenge me and said, go to apprenticeship school, man, you need to go to apprenticeship school so you can learn the trade, not just how to do it, but the design and what's going on behind that. And after that, it was like, go tonight. So you can start learning about business construction, business management, blah, blah, blah. Like, okay, I could do that. Then it was like, you need to go and start studying leadership so that you can learn how to serve people and support people. And so it was this type of thing that people kept feeding me. And I'm telling you at the time, I mean, even apprenticeship, I'm like, shit, man, will I, can I make it, do I, do I even have what it takes? And that's always the question, do I even have what it takes? And so far the answer is hell yeah. And so that's, that's how I got here. The other part is, as you know, maybe the last five years, I recognized a rather I matured. I think I matured from, from seeing people as, as a competition and letting competition trigger collaboration. Like when I get like automatically I automatically to this date, I meet somebody and they sound smarter than me. I'm like, okay, it's on, I'm gonna take your ass down. But I got to let that trigger me. Like, no, no, no, no, no. I can learn from this person and we can do great things together, but I've got to disconnect from my ego. When I started understanding that it's like, okay, what I need to do is be very selective about who I share my thoughts with and take ideas from. And, and they are going to be people that I've got to look up to because if there are people that I can look up to, I am going in that direction. That's the direction I want to go. And so it's evolved over time, but that's where I'm at now. Is that, did I even touch on the question you asked?
Adam:Yes. And you got my mind running in so many different directions. So you said something earlier and I have it written behind me and I'm starting to dive into it, but language action, how make rumors kind of taken me down this trip and I'm so looking forward to the journey, but you know, I've started with capability development with Dean Reed and I've discovered habits and mindset. I love those words like that word mindset, because, you know, we talk about visualizing things and seeing it in action and believing that you can do it and then doing it right. We talked even exchange texts earlier with gentlemen on attitudes and behaviors and how that it reinforces success and systems. You also mentioned something that I, I've done a little bit of research on cognitive dissonance and that's that feeling that you described of like, am I good enough? Can I actually pull it off? And I'll tell you that never stops, right? And that holds a lot of people back from going and doing and changing the world. And when you can approach a situation with just the confidence and calmness and understanding that I can live in the moment and I can help these people grow around me while still growing with them. And that's the part, I think a lot of folks often miss is that that growth is always two ways internal and external. And so It's really about driving the need for additional, like getting outside your comfort zone, getting through that fear, like fighting through that fear to be able to, to develop and, and, and get better over time. So yeah, I love, I love the answer and again, it's that vision it's it's, you know, why some people struggle, they've never seen a member of their family be successful or they've only seen a member of their family be successful to a certain point, right? Like maybe there's no millionaires in their family. So is it really a possibility? Cause nobody that looks like me has done that. I'll leave it at that because I don't want to dive too far off the deep end or we'll be here all day,
Jesse:but you nailed it. I mean, and that's the purpose for the project? Is so that people can see that they can see, yeah, I'm in a ditch, but I can get there. Or the other people that walk by the ditch and say, man, look at them, crummy ass construction workers. Now they're going to hear this. And they say, man, listen to this dude, Adam, he'd like deep. Like he knows what he's talking about. He's got real deep insight to how the human psyche works and people, most people wouldn't think twice about that. Like the last interview I had with Mr. Kevin Chase, I mean, he's, he's a construction professional phenomenal dude. And I asked him straight up, like, dude, before you got into construction, what did you think of construction workers? He's like, man, like, honestly I didn't think much about them because the image that is portrayed out there is, you know, just loud mouth smack talking a cigar chewing, cussing. No cigar chewing well, busted
Adam:Not pleasant to be around, always stopping me from getting places efficient and fast. Like always making me stop,
Jesse:you got it. That's why I love having guests like you on the show because you've come a long way. And, and it wasn't by accident and it wasn't through privilege, it was through work and dedication. We started talking about how respect is lacking in the industry and your experience as a first-year plumbers helper right out of the gate. And you'll, you also mentioned that we're still lacking respect for the trades. Tell us more about that. What, what are your thoughts?
Adam:Well for ultra clarity sake. I am I mean, I'm a white male, so I do have a certain privilege that's associated with that. So you may have statement that I didn't have a privilege earlier, and I just want to clarify that, that I do understand my position from that perspective. And so again, not to jump off the deep end there, but I, I do value and appreciate that word.
Jesse:That's what I'm talking about. Like that's why your bad ass, like you just straight up own the privilege thing where a lot of that, that's a touchy subject for a lot of people. So thank you for that. Man, I applaud
Adam:you you've seen the video on Facebook. I'm sure you're enough social media engaged. We were like. You have two parents that love Jewish express love to take a step forward. And they're already a hundred dollars, man. Mm,
Jesse:Powerful. I mean, those are realities in life and it takes, it takes some humility. That's tremendous humility and ownership to be able to say shit. Yeah. I got it a little better than other people do and that that's in itself.
Adam:I agree with you, Jesse. It's one thing to recognize it, but then it's a, it's a whole nother thing to share it and be responsible with it. And and again, I've actually talked about this and I really wish we weren't going here right now, because again, it's a really slippery slope, but I'm comfortable because I've had this conversation with a lot of folks that look like me and I often hear and get nothing. Like, I worked hard for this and it's like, yeah. Hi, Dan.
Jesse:Yeah. Yep. It did. Yeah,
Adam:absolutely. But, but there are opportunities that were provided to you because of what you look like. And that's I think the world's getting better, but we still have a long way to go from that perspective. So again, I I'd love to dive into a podcast to that. I think we need the right people in the room to make that happen, and I could even bring some of those folks for what it's worth.
Jesse:Real talk,
Adam:baby. Real talk. I mean, that's how we're going to get better as a community. Right. That's how we're going to understand each other's perspectives and have empathy for one another and drive the narrative forward, like let's stop talking. Here's the cool thing. Just reflection on, on those words, stop talking. There was a gal named Holly from NCCR that participated in our skilled trades Alliance board meeting yesterday. And she's. Man. And I'm like, she talked at the end. She's like, I'm blown away. Like most people just stand around and talk. You all are really just updating each other on what you're doing. Hmm. And so boy, was that powerful? Like, what are we doing? Yeah. Language action. Right? Like, that's, you're really circling us back. Like if I talk about it as it's a shitty job and I'm in a hole and I'm swimming in shit and corn and dirt it's different than, Hey, I'm saving this doctor's office who might be saving a life here tomorrow. When you start approaching it from that mindset and using that language, all of a sudden your action becomes respected, and then from inside out. Right? Like, so to me, this is, you asked about where are we missing respect? Like to me, it's inside out. If we don't respect our craft workers, as, as the supervisors, as managers, superintendents, as tradesmen for like foreman crew leaders, How do we ever expect anybody? How do we expect that room to stay the same? And I have my, when I exchanged my three-piece vest for my construction vests, like how w if we don't respect the worker, how will we be respected? And so it's about giving it's about you know, elevating as, as miss Jen, Lacey would say, right. Elevating others and empowering them. I mean, why would you not want them to make these decisions? They're closest to the information and let them innovate, let them like, wow, what, like Toyota taught us this, like, pull in, pull the cord if you need to stop it we got to empower folks, we got to stop treating them like robots. That is a little side hustle of mine. If anybody's in by human collaborative robot, you let me know sorry shameless plug, but I do feel like humans do a lot of jobs that robots should do to allow humans to innovate and do more research and development and empower them in ways that they're not currently empowered. And so that's my passion there on that side, but yeah, I just, you know, and so we can respect the worker internally and that goes from all stages of putting them in the wrong situation, or simply let's talk about the board of John's on the site or, you know, whatever else might be the disrespect, just the top down driving or disrespectful dictatorship leadership. I wouldn't even call it leadership. Dictatorship is the best word. And until we can stop that, we'll, we'll never be respected as an industry. And. I think that's what we all want is to be respected as an industry when they see us that we're equals. Right. So anyway, I'll get off that soapbox, but respect is everything. Not just respect for respect, like we say, respect for people, respect for people like that. And the Zulu tribe in Africa, I think I've told you this already saw your bone now. And I don't know if I pronounce it right. I probably didn't, but I did. My best saw you bona in the Zulu African tribe literally means I see you. And I recognize that you exist as a human being. That's how they greet each other. They don't say, Hey, hello. How are you? Wait, Hey. Yeah, no, they say as soon as Mendez, the salsa dancing plumbers, are you born? I see you. You exist like, Hey, let's move together. That's a big difference in being like, Hey, how are ya?
Jesse:I've heard this said by some pretty damn smart people. People just want to matter. You've heard that before Adam.
Adam:Yeah. I said that in a an a conference I can't even do, actually. I just traded Jen vibe with your tribe. I'm pretty sure I took that from someone else. I traded her on LinkedIn today for that phrase for people just want to matter. So yeah, I think I can claim that one. I'm not really sure. I actually you know, I'm rereading because I'm trying to help help Jason write a book on project engineers, but, and he's all about how to win friends and influence people in. So I'm reading that by Dale Carnegie and they say, people just want to feel important in the book, which is the same concept. Right. So yeah, I have my mind going so many different ways.
Jesse:So you mentioned skilled trades Alliance. I think, I think our audience needs to know a little bit more about that.
Adam:Absolutely. Well, so skilled trades Alliance has been created here in South Carolina. It's been around for a couple of years. We have been spreading the word on skilled trades, but they are we've been trying to I'm sorry. We have been, I don't like the word trying we aren't trying, we are doing it is a language action thing, right? So, so we are getting into schools. We have, you know, K to fourth, fifth to seventh, eighth and ninth, and then 10th to 12th, technical and college activities, presentations information to help folks understand what the skilled trades are. We're partnered with NCC E R who's been an amazing spot. They have just helped us with so many marketing materials and getting the word out. And man, you know, Chrissy, Dalton is now like I met her. Two or three years ago and a Curt conference and Phoenix, I believe. And it was a, it was like a young leaders group and she she's the director of public relations and marketing, I believe at NCCR. And she is just like unbelievable, fantastically. Awesome. Like insert your made up word here. Like she is just unbelievable and has done so much for skilled trades anyway. So, so, so thank you so much NCCR for being involved, but you know, we've got Clemson and Greenville tech and Greenville county schools and you know, veterans programs and reentry programs. And we're trying to look at the issue of workforce and. The construction industry, the building skilled trades industry we've got, you know, Steve will bring back the trades he's in upholstery. So like we were approaching this thing from a lot of different angles, trying to get the word out, trying to spread awareness of all the amazing programs that people are doing. There's so many amazing programs out there, but there's nobody that's like highlighting them all. And so I'm excited to announce that, you know, Jesse and what a place to do it right on your podcasts that Jesse and, and the team has pressured me enough that, that I'm going to put this new road caster to pro to the test. And we're going to do a little skilled trades Alliance, a podcast once a month, where we're going to highlight programs that are going on existing programs, that if it's, you know, build your future with AGC or any of these others, You know build your career. Like there's all kinds of amounts. I think, build your futures, NCCR, build your careers, maybe ADCC, everybody's doing like similar things. Like how do we align and how do we take like the blueprints from each one of them and then make the best program ever. And not saying skilled trades Alliance wants to make that program. We just want to make everybody aware of everything that's going on out there, because there's so many different things going on. We're tired of people like just sitting back saying, oh, well, As this skill, like skill of trades, nobody wants to go. Nobody wants camp quality work. No, we're doing stuff, right? Like we're encouraging. We're teaching kids what they are. We're teaching reentry programs, what they are, we're teaching veterans, we're teaching homeless. We're like, we want to go and serve underserved populations. Those with disabilities. We want to modify our workplace to incorporate, you know, folks that, that have been underserved, like historically underserved and, allow them to take it and run with it. It's the only Jesse, Naimi another area where you could have a bucket of tools and a brain of experience and go own your own company. Don't worry. I'll wait. I wish you could hear my sound effects. Cause Jeopardy's plan right now.
Jesse:Oh, we had a little hint of it, man. You know like, yes, yes. And yes. 100%. It is an amazing industry at large. I love your fire man. And especially that podcast is going to be coming up and going to be some good stuff. So, you know, we started off with you coming into the trade as a plumber's helper. We've touched on robotics, your side hustle. You're the executive director on the skilled trades Alliance board. You're co-authoring a book. You've got some other side hustles going on. We know you're eloquent, intelligent and passionate. What were your earliest career aspirations? If you think back to like middle school, you remember?
Adam:I wanted to be a baseball player. Okay. Or an announcer.
Jesse:For baseball,
Adam:whatever, whatever, interesting to watch a sporting event with me, I can be kind of annoying
Jesse:you calling all the plays I'm in
Adam:Africa. But from a scientific perspective, right? In the sounds maybe not so humble of me, but I've been in those shoes a lot. I played baseball and football. And so when I, like, I understand the game, like you can imagine me taking things to the next level, like when I'm playing football, it's like, okay, you know, I'm the quarterback, I know the game, I know the plays, I know the, you know, Omaha, Omaha, like let's I recognize the defense and let's make adjustments on the fly, be agile with it. And so, you know, same with baseball. There's like this part of baseball where it's like this baseball IQ where, you know, if somebody goes to steal a base, right. And there's a fly ball to right field. So that runners go in, there's a fly ball and I'm playing shorts. I'm going to fake, like I'm getting a ground ball because that guy's going to hustle to second base harder. Meanwhile, the guy in right field catches the fly ball doubles in method first. And so that's like this baseball IQ, right. I, I know I'm like probably way a million ways off from the question, but
Jesse:yeah, so announcer baseball player and, you do announcing clearly from the bleachers when you're out watching Michigan, Kai, play some ball
Adam:watch out he's
Jesse:coming, baby's coming. And, and so I'm going to flip that question. You asked me back on you. How did you get, how do you go from, you know, wanting to be a baseball player getting that beautiful gift at 17 years old to being the virtuoso that you are now, how did that help?
Adam:It's the same concept I just explained to you, like, I dive in way too deep, man. Like I was like, okay, if they're going to disrespect me, watch this. Like, I'm going to show them how to do this stem joint. I'm going to hop in there. And they'll only just distract me once. Like, and that's my Mo I have this accountability thing behind me and Jason and I just did a podcast on it. Well if you want to know the truth with me, it's like, Hey, tell me once. And if I don't get it, then I, I want like a little like, yeah, like accountability check. Like that's just my personality. Again, assuming that we have a good relationship and it's coming from a place of radical candor. But so it's, it's me, man. I take things like I'm intense. I'm all in. If I dive in and I'm passionate about something and it fits around my icky guy, like I am there, and so you know, construction it's hands-on I dove in, I figured it out. I made it happen and they only laughed at me once. And from there that point on it was like, oh boy, like we bought it like, holy cow, we can, might even learn something from this guy. And so it's the same way in plumbing, right? Like, as in baseball, I just explained like the, you know, fake play or like a fake throat and plumbing. It's the same thing. Like you start developing these. Just this understanding of the system and where hangers need to go and what the flow needs to look like and how, like I can order pipe now. And like, I, I slowly by slowly increased my capability. I, you know, there's this concept of, the comfort zone have you, I'm sure you're seeing the bubble where, you know, we've shared, we've talked about it after you get outside your comfort zone, it's that fear zone. And when you can like fly through the fear zone, you get into this learning zone where you really start to develop your capabilities. And then if you keep pushing yourself through this learning and, you know, through this feeling of being overwhelmed, you get into the growth zone, where you as a human being are actually growing. And what happens is that expands your comfort zone so that your fear zone becomes like minimal. Anyway. I dove in like full, like full force. I used to have a PM. He's not a VP at Whiting Turner. When I used the words full force, it kind of laughed at me. That's not a thing it's like bullshit. It is now it's full force, like all in 100% me authentic. And I'm going to learn in this small Jay approach as we talk about often and I'm going to take it and be the best damn plumber that I can be. And I did that. And you know, I realized that I didn't want to be hands-on for my whole life. It is hard work. It's not easy, but it was satisfying. And so I wanted to be close to it and I wanted to enable, and I wanted to empower the others that were around me. I mean, when I first got on now, you know, I was put with a gentleman who had a drinking issue and he was often, allowed me to go and do the work and learn the hard way. And then he wasn't so nice coming back after lunch. That's it though, right? It's all in incrementally improving. And so then you go from there to, well, hell I don't want to do this extreme opposite. I want to be an architect. I'm going to school for architecture. Like let's do this. Come on us set a five-year degree. Master's degree. Let's go baby.
Jesse:Nice architect,
Adam:Adam.
Jesse:Who's the tech. So
Adam:I got really good handwriting.
Jesse:You do. So folks, those of y'all that are listening, check us out on YouTube. You can see Adam's beautiful flip charts back there with some art and some very nice, very nice penmanship. It's worth listening to the whole thing again, just to see his penmanship. Now you talked about the comfort zone in, and I imagine we've got some, some young folks. Out there listening to this and kind of like, whoa, that, that sounded kind of complicated. So I want to break it down and Jesse speak. You know, that, that zone where we're getting to the edge where the learning's going to happen and the growth is going to explode. What, when I think of that, like that feeling that I get, because I love living there right there. It's, it's an addiction for me. And it sounds like it's an addiction for you to ADam right. It's like, get me there. Cause that's where I want to be. Right. Like if you're alive, it's the same feeling of being at the high school dance or the middle school dance. And you got to go ask old girl like, Hey girl, you want to dance? You know, like let's dance or, or, Hey boy, stop being scared. Come ask me to dance. That feeling like, like all the butter, the nerves and like, oh, that's the zone. What do you think. I love it. I love
Adam:it. And I love that you're calling me out on this like theoretical guy approach. And if I could put it in like a hoot speak, if you will, I'd put it in, in this feeling of being like getting ready to go on a rollercoaster and like you're real nervous. And you don't know if you want to do it or not. And, but you do it the first time and you're like, whoa, that was fun. Like, we want to do it again. Let's do it again. Like, yay. One more time. One more time.
Jesse:So here's a question, cause I know you love my questions. What characteristics do you look for in people that might help you or that will help you challenge or dance on that edge of your comfort zone?
Adam:So I'll take your question. I trust you're okay with my silence back. Yeah, man. It's three things to me. So first off I can get. I can get outside my comfort zone with just about anybody. Okay. Meaning and with any model, meaning we can learn something, every person that we engage with, every person, like, even if it's just what temperature is or if they, what food they don't like as again, I hate to keep saying Jen Lacey, but she's such an amazing person that you know, that's a great ice breaker. Like we just learned about somebody. And so for me, it's three things. It's one it's like this person is generally the best of the best at what they do. And this is somebody that's gonna pull me outside of my comfort zone. Right? Like So they're the best of the best, put a tennis racket in their hand and men they're going to crush you in tennis. So you got to play some badminton or some, some backgammon or, or go read a book and they're going to comprehend it and spit it out. Or we're going to go swim laps or, or we're going to have a debate or insert new thing here. And this person is typically in the better percentage of doing it. Okay. The second thing is because of that, these people who pull me outside my comfort zone work harder than every other person out there. Like they are the first in last out concept. And not just like, as he worked first and last out, but like productive work, asking questions, creating environments, changing behaviors these people are hardest working best at what they do. And the third one. And I think it's the most important one. And there might be more of a, three is just what comes to my head is they're respectful. They care about people and they come from a place of caring personally and challenging directly that, and that's Kim Scott's radical candor concept where so, so if you approach me and you're typically the best of the best at what you do and you're work harder than anybody else I'm talking like hard and productive and making things happen and you're simply respectful and care for humanity. We're like, Hey, we, and you can pick these people out. When we sit down at, at lunch and we like engage with the waitress and we're like, Hey, how are you? How was your day? And, you know, they, they respond or do they respond or do they say, yeah, I'll take a Coke. You know, and those little interactions I don't remember what book it was. I've read recent, but those could change the life. Like if you assume that those little interactions could change someone's life or save someone's life even just a smile goes a long way.
Jesse:Money bay, watch out, got the smile on. Nice.
Adam:And we got sit down the going now maybe.
Jesse:So those are some pretty amazing criteria, man. And I say amazing because they're universally applicable and that's a to, again, for the folks that are listening to this podcast, as a means to challenge their comfort zone. I want to ask this question to help give them some clarity in that the Zack, those criteria that you listed. Do you only find people that are super educated, super accomplished that meet that criteria?
Adam:I don't want people to hate me right now, Justin, can I, can I plead no contest or pleading the fifth? Is that a thing on your show or not? This should be the fans only stuff for what it's worth. I can't believe they're going to make so many people mad because so many smart people teach me so much good stuff. I rarely find those qualities and people who are super, super smart.
Jesse:Mike dry,
Adam:rarely for me. It's it's a hands-on approach. And then don't get me wrong. I do find those people. And boy, when I find those people, I gravitate to them. When I'm able to understand those people who are super, super, super smart, like I would call those people, Uber smart. They also pull me outside my comfort zone, you know and the growth that I have when I'm around those people, because of my practical mindset is like unbelievably exponential. And so when I can start understanding the science of some of this stuff and the reasoning, why it works and doesn't work, whether that's psychological or that's production physics, or that you know, the gemba gemba based improvement concept that you so often talk about. No, like, I guess maybe I just learn better from people who are, have a practical mindset, very able to relate more to one another. And so those people I feel more comfortable around and they're able to twist it and modify their words to help me understand things better. I don't know if I answered your question, Dodge, your question, pissed the world off.
Jesse:You nailed the question and, your concern about pissing people off. I think for me, there's times where I'll hear some painful, a painful observation, but it's painful because there's truths. And it drives me to examine my thinking about that situation so that I can adjust appropriately to better serve. And so for the folks that might be, feel that, that little bit of a gut punch on your response, good, because there's room for improvement and Adam just put his finger on it for us. And more importantly, for those folks out there that that are thinking that they need to have mentors and people in their life that are making six figures and have all of these things of have acquired all of these things. That's not what you need. Those qualities that you listed exists in every level of education, every walk of life. It's a matter of understanding what qualities you're seeking. And then when you know what that, that set of qualities. You can find it in the waitress or in the waiter that, that serving you, you, I mean, you know, it, you meet, we meet people and it's like, whoa, man, you got it going on. Like, I'm gonna learn something from you.
Adam:And when you find those people, you latch onto them. I once had an experience with a waitress we had like 15 baseball kids there and she listed everybody by number three family. And like how genius of an idea was that, like, she came up with a system that works in real time. And so she's a keeper.
Jesse:There you go. That's what it's all about, man. Well, since you already touched on the fans only content, I, I ask you the, the fans only question. Can you share a learning, a major learning you've had as a result of a very painful or even maybe embarrassing mistakes? That you made in your life? Yes. Come on with the baby.
Adam:So, alright. I kind of want to go sit on my couch right now. So the first time I tried to implement last planner
Jesse:No, I know you were waiting for it.. I got to put the teaser out there. You want to get the rest of this LNM backstage pass Especially, if you want some secret sauce for applying the last planner system and really getting to the heart of problem solving signup for the composite crew level, it'll get you access to this snippet and all the previous snippet. Go toPatreon.com/Learnings and missteps. And now back to the show,
Adam:So I hope that did you just
Jesse:did it? It's a powerful one. I read a quote somewhere the most dangerous place to run a job from is behind the desk and in the trailer. So it makes me wonder. Why, why do you think it is it that people default to staying in the office or staying in the trailer rather than going to where the damn problem exists.
Adam:It's their comfort zone. They're not questions. They're not challenge. They're not people aren't watching them. It's easier. I don't like those words, but it's because I, you know, I come from an office mindset, so I gotta be careful. I don't piss everybody off. I gotta have somebody stay with me, please. Just, if I only have you at the end of this thing, I'll be in good shape. I make you mad and I'll turn it down. But uh, you know, again, and I think this is something I'm learning right now, like this whole it's us. And so when I'm like offending all these groups, I trust that I'm offending myself first and foremost, because I like, if anybody needs to hear these words that are coming out of my mouth, it's me. So I'm thankful I had these big headphones, so I can even like, turn it up a little bit into my mic there. But so it's us, it's me. It's, it's fighting that, you know, desire to be in your comfort zone. It's challenging yourself to get outside that comfort zone through the fear zone. Cause it is like, you know, what happens is when you go out there and you just say, Hey man, where are you from? Or Hey gal, what's on your mind or, you know, and what else? And did you see that race or that, you know, Sox, Yankees game, the field of dreams game, the other thing, building bonds and trust, like, but just that quick question. And, and, and and then listening with intention to truly understand before you have the next conversation teed up or engaged, you know, when, when you and I are talking, I often lose my train of thought, like often, because it's, you know, we've gone at all these different stops on the way, and I've got notes and post-its everywhere. And then by the time I go to speak, it's like, you've got me passionate about something totally different. So yeah, but I think that's important in dialogue.
Jesse:Yes. You know, you mentioned the gamble based improvement and you also helped recoined that to FBI field based improvement.
Adam:Who needs those big lean words anyway?
Jesse:Oh yeah, exactly. It's not confused, but you really just keep it simple. No. One of the, one of the elements of that is, is going out and meeting people. We don't know which for me is very easy because that's the way I, I I'll, I love meeting people. I love talking to people. I love asking questions and listening. I'm nosy, like that's me. And I just assume that everybody's that way. So running that exercise with, with general contractor personnel, my assumption was that they were just going to be good at it. Right? Cause they've got the authority, they've got the influence. Why would they be uncomfortable going and meeting somebody new on their job site? And what I discovered was, man, it was, it was abnormal behavior or an abnormal action for them to just go and meet somebody new. And so that just when you responded with. It's people's comfort zone. That's why we stay in the trailer. And I'm going to say we, because I've been there that's I did that too. I tried to run projects or rather I tried to run a D department through spreadsheets, like, all right. And I had a boss, Jim Jones. He's like, Jessie, you can mix those spreadsheets back and forth all as many times as you want, but it's, it's going to have impact on production because that's not where the problem is. The problem is out on the job, like son of a bitch. Okay. I got to go out there and figure that out. But the skill of, of going and just talking to people, going to where the problem is, it is a major skill. And it's, you know, I would say that it's underappreciated, but I think it's even worse than that, that we're just aware of the gap that people have in terms of meeting and connecting with people. Period. What do you think.
Adam:You're dead on baby. You actually planted that seed in my head the other day. You know, I've got a couple of big presentations coming up a presentation, if you will, whatever it's on capability development and putting that over productivity and, and maybe fishing some people off, I hope. When you're talking there, it's really about learning both ways, right? Like you have something to offer somebody to maybe build in a better way or in a different flow or in a safer, or with more quality type of way. And so what does that person teaching you and being comfortable with giving up the control? And allowing somebody else to teach you and maybe somebody that's not as well educated or so you think that they're not as well educated as you, you know, so just because you've got a four-year degree and they've got a 30 year degree they might be able to teach you something. And so it's you know, being comfortable, being uncomfortable being comfortable, giving up control you know, here's something that I don't tell many people and I'm so excited to share with maybe some more fans, only stuff here.
Jesse:There we go. Let's see it. Let's see.
Adam:Hey and so there's this concept that I'm, I'm like starting to notice, and I don't want to give it like, this is going to totally screw up our phone calls. But at the end of a conversation, I want everybody, like, I challenge your audience at the end of your conversations. Don't be the last one to say goodbye. Don't be the last one to just like, okay. Yeah, you too. Yup. Yep, yep. Yep. Okay. Bye. Yup. Yep, yep. Yep. Oh, you have a good day. Oh yeah, no, just make your statement like Jesse, this was a pleasure, man. I really enjoyed it. Thank you so much for the hospitality. And, and we'll talk to the next time and then just stop. When you allow somebody to have control of the end of a conversation until the next time, that's a really powerful thing. So anyway, I'm a million miles from where we started, but that's, that's how my brain works. Welcome to my brain fans only. No, just this concept of sharing the privilege maybe, or you know, allowing somebody else to teach you something, knowing that that person has something in their head that you don't know that would benefit you, you ultimately grow a bigger bond with that person.
Jesse:Yeah, that is gold. It's absolutely. That's a power school. I'm going to start, I'm going to start practicing that. It's
Adam:really hard. It's almost as hard as giving somebody direct feedback or pay for it, receiving feedback
Jesse:and just embracing the feedback.
Adam:Thank you.
Jesse:Mm. Mm mm. Straight. Thank you. And that's it. Shut your mouth. Let it settle. Woo baby.
Adam:That's when you start getting a lot of trending feedback, that's maybe not so positive, then you want to kind of like take it to heart and make some change. Maybe. I don't know.
Jesse:Just a suggestion. Yeah. Like if everybody in your circle is giving you the similar feedback, how likely is it that they're all wrong?
Adam:It might be you.
Jesse:Oh man. Real talk, baby. That's all we've got today. All right. We're rounding third headed home, Adam, I know that you've had a major impact on my life. And I imagine you have the same effect on anybody that you touch. So what I want to know is what fingerprint do you intend to leave on the world going forward?
Adam:I love your questions, Jesse. I just want to take a sec to admire your questions while my brain calculates an answer. That's okay. You
Jesse:got it.
Adam:Maybe could you and I do this a lot. Sorry. Could you ask it in a different way because fingerprints a strong word. I mean, cause I don't necessarily find if it's my fingerprint, right? Like I, like I have an icky guy kind of a mission. I guess that's kind of what you're after. Okay. So for one, I just like, so here's Hoots is dead, right. Everybody's coming together and they're like, man, dude, like what a way, like he just created environments that made other people feel so important and special. Man, like this is like you look at, and, and there's just people galore and it's like, oh yeah, he touched my life here. Or, you know, I remember back when we were on the baseball team and you know, little Johnny was the worst hitter in the league and coach hoots, like drafted him and believed in him and like changed his vocabulary. And he started hitting the ball and now little Johnny's in middle school and like succeed. And and now Johnny's like just graduated high school. And now he's a coach because coach hoots, you know, taught him some things that were really cool. And You know, th this person's a better builder because because hoots came there and enabled everybody to give feedback, right? Like that craft worker, that hoots was that day swimming and shit. That's the part, I guess, that doesn't happen anymore. Like, like that person's able to say, you know, stop laughing at me. I don't really know what I'm doing. Why don't you come down here and help without getting reprimanded or fired. And so like enabling other people or you know, when you say fingerprint, those are strong words. Like, but, and it all came from a good place, a place of just good energy, there's some times when you just get this feeling in your belly and it's like, you know, I have a gentleman G that I walk with, I call him affectionately and gee Glenn Hollis with Alzheimer, Cushman, Wakefield, town Heimer. He's a developer in the area and we walk the trail often and we talk about rivers of living water, and they're deep in your belly and this is all biblical. And so I apologize again, if I'm offending somebody and you might be surprised after some of the language for me to go biblical on you, but it's like this feeling you get, when you know, you're doing the right thing and you're spreading the good energy in the world and you just want it to continue on and live on and allow others to like, feel it. Man. It all starts with a smile and then it starts with your language and then it goes into your actions. And so if you're able to just help one person, like I don't want to get all cliche on us, but if we really want to change the world and like, let's start, like throw your topic in there, whatever, like race, we, we touched a little bit with the privilege thing. When, when we can understand other people's perspective and we're able to have honest, candid conversations we're able to grow in those moments or we're able to learn both ways, right? Like, cause every, you know, the person's opinion is a person's opinion, right? Wrong or indifferent. And so that feedback is like, man, he promoted these uncomfortable conversations and approached it from a place of Jesus and righteousness and what's good and good and versus bad. And hasn't always been good. I'll be the first one to tell you that I'm living proof that I've just never been caught. Right. And so I think that's an important difference and maybe that's a privilege concept as well. Quite honestly. And so I'm like, man, he was a vulnerable person. Like he you know, he wasn't better than anybody. He, he and I'm working on this too. Like I always try to be the dumbest person in the room intentionally because the dumbest person in the room learns the most that day typically. And so I've had a lean leader yesterday, Colin Milberg. Who's an amazing person. He came up through the trades as well. We should get him on here. But, you know, he told me like, Hey, you actually got, you got something there, man. You might want to not be the dumbest person in the room sometimes and be able to share that. And I'm hitting kind of that point in my career. Right? I'm like at that 20 year mark 22, if we want to count them years as a plumber, which I always do. And so it it's, sharing that and giving that back and understanding that there is a need for it and, and you, you can help somebody else. And so I've always tried to do that from like a lifestyle perspective, but now like having something professionally to give back or encourage historically underserved folks, To go and have these uncomfortable, get outside your comfort zone and come learn something new, because I'm gonna be honest with you, Jesse and not to no disrespect to any of the tradespeople either, but you know, the work itself, when you put your mind to it, it's not overly complicated. You just got to put your mind to it and have the willpower and use the right language and get in that right mindset to make it happen. And so if you can learn a trade, whether it's framing or plumbing or electric, think about the endless old street or whatever and you can get excited and passionate and, and energetic about it. And that's when we've really, really won as a society. And so I hope it's just drove that message, right? Like what a good president of the United States, that guy was. I'd love that opportunity, man, to just have like good old plumber from South Carolina, like move over Donald, move over Joseph, and just think of the amount of people that you could empower from that position. Cal like the man, the responsibility that would come along with that. I would love to shout at that
Jesse:that's vision baby. That picked up on a, on a very powerful exercise that you just articulated, but you mentioned the word eeky guy two times. Would you mind shining some light on that for our listeners out there?
Adam:Did I really say it
Jesse:twice? Oh yeah.
Adam:Oh man. Sure. I'm going to go to the Google really fast to make sure I don't mess it up because I'll tell you what it means
Jesse:I'm going to use. It means to you the Google. I use the Google. Yes, because I think that's an important thing that, that a lot of that'll benefit people, you know, there's there's concepts and ideas and language out there that we can often get twisted up because we're trying to live by the definition as per Google, as per the expert that introduced it to you. But there is also tremendous value in digesting the concept and the idea and the language and making it a part of you. And so your understanding is really the important thing. But it's also important to know where that came from. So please,
Adam:so to me, It's my purpose. It's, it's my reason for being it's. It's what I love. It's what I'm passionate about. It's it's where I, where I invest my time, my energy, my it's, it's my purpose. It's my reason for being here on the surface. And so I'm very fortunate that I've found that I think many people go through life without finding that. And honestly, I'm just now discovering that because really my icky guy there there's these levels of experience, that, and situations that I've been through that have contributed to my achy guy and shaped that icky guy to and it's Iki gai. And I'm so sorry, like for tossing the Japanese terms around, I hate people that do that. Like literally hate people that do that. So my father and I are writing a book right now as well. And haven't met, I may or may not have mentioned this to the old dog, Wayne thesaurus. And so it's funny as hell because my dad is an, isn't like an old school superintendent at Whiting Turner and does all their Disneyworld work IPD, blah, blah, blah. And you know so he's like kind of this old peak is what I call him. And I'm like, the new dog is what I call it. Like. I we've kind of got this mindset backwards. It's funny. It's, it's a good combination. But so the, the whole book is like we're taking these Japanese terms of what lean consultants love, the thorough Kaizen and achy guy and the last planner system. And we're just going to like help the old school superintendent, like, look, this isn't nothing new. Like you're a great builder. You've been doing this for years. Like who needs to use the word gemba, like it's field, it's going to the field. It's standing there and seeing the operation or icky guy, it's your purpose, man. It's like, what you, you know, and they have this great idea. And so icky guy is like this combination of what you love, what the world needs, what you're good at and what you can be paid for. And so when you find this center, that's called your icky guy. And so in Japan the concept of retirement doesn't exist because you always have something to contribute back to your icky guy. So they spend a lot of time getting into the right position and, and really making their work a part of their life. And you know, that, that helps so much with life balance. But what experts are can again, sorry, I don't know the book, but actually it was the icky guy, but I think that's what it's called is icky guy. They actually, the Japanese live longer than Americans. And yeah, I was so surprised. This is the book it's fantastic. Written by Hector Garcia and Francis neurologists. But it it's, you know, it's a proven fact and Japanese culture, they live longer and people are a firm believer that it's because they're connected to their purpose for their entire life. And so it makes a huge difference when you live in this world. You see this passion and you have a mission and your job aligns with what you're doing. And it's just the sadness, this feeling that it's where that river of living waters comes from. It's like, man, I get excited. Like we we've just spent an hour. I don't even know how long an hour and a half hour and 40 minutes on the phone together. And it's like, we just picked up and I know we'll spend a couple of days next week talking, you know, four or five o'clock in the morning. Like that's, I have no issue getting up that early to talk to you. And Jen and Jason, I believe that like, it's amazing that the connection there. And so when you're living in that space, it's just, it's not worth right. It's it's like, it's just my passion and my energy. And so I'm excited to, to be in a place where, you know, we can take some of these terms that people over-complicate and we can break them down. Because they don't have to be so, you know, theoretical, right. When you understand them from a practical mindset, it's just your purpose. It's why you're getting paid and what you love to do,
Jesse:Beautiful explanation, thank you for the extra resources for folks. Catch it on the, you too. You know, you also answering the question about what people were going to be talking about at your funeral. How did you happen upon that thinking of things from that perspective, how was that introduced to you?
Adam:And I had died already. Yup. I had a that was on kidney dialysis. I really, wasn't going to dive in, you just give your questions, bring it out of me. So high school athlete went to college thought I was going to go play football, dressed out for the practice team that and traveled it and dress and quit very quick, decided to be a regular college student to treat my body with respect. And so at the age of 28, I was put on kidney dialysis. So it didn't have a couple of kidney diseases. I, you know, had more than usual fun as a college student. And so at 28 I went into end stage renal failure. I was on dialysis for a year and a half, both peritoneal and hemo. I very much encouraged the parents, Neil for what it's worth. You do it at home. It's anyway if anybody knows folks on dialysis, it is the most miserable life. One can expect you, you know, you're constantly cleaning yourself. You can't use the restroom. You, by the end of the day, you feel terrible. That toxins are built up. It's it's a rough life. And so I'm pretty happy go lucky, dude, I hated life. I wanted to kill myself. I it was really, really rough and my mom was cleared, but had to watch a spot on her lung for a year before the she could donate. And so going into that kidney transplant, I was really, really nervous. I was scared. I thought I was gonna die. And I discovered lean during that period to actually trying to, you know, how do I get more out of my life? What is the value? You know understanding that, you know, I don't, again, pulling it from a book. I don't remember which one, but life is like a perspective in a football stadium. You only have about 30,000 days in each day, you get a different view from a different seat. And so that became a real to me. And my kidney transplant on January 7th, 2014 you know, I went to sleep on that operating table and when I woke up and I swear, like, this is heaven. Like I've been, I've got perfect kids. Well, I've got perfectly healthy children. I've got, you know, and they're really good. We talked to them a lot. We, you know, we talk lean concepts. They laugh when I mentioned lean. And I've got a great group of friends. I got a beautiful wife who loves me and cares. And and so I spent a lot of time, you know, kind of getting back to that question, like what is life like without me here? And You know, that's a serious reflection question and wrote letters to my family. Like if I don't wake up openness and they still haven't opened them to this day. But they'll have that. And so to be able to leave something like that to your family is it's important that we live our life thinking about what are people gonna say? It might feel like who's even going to be at my funeral. You know, and what's that party going to be like, you know, and Jesse gets to hang out with my old high school friends is going to be fun. I trust that she'll let loose and have a good time. W when I woke up and it just, my life was so perfect. And it's the vision is there. And you got another chance and what's value. Can you, I can make coffee in 44 seconds in the morning. Tell a story all the time, because I don't want to spend know the other 44 seconds. It used to take me making coffee. For the rest of my life. That's a week at 44 seconds transitions into a week. And so when we you know, really look at that and I will just like pause and mention you know, Kyle settle, who was a pre-construction manager for DPR just this past week God bless his soul. He just passed away and you know, you stop and think he had three young boys and a wife. And no, he was just like, he was 37 years old. He was perfectly healthy. He was it was a Marine from the city. He graduated from the Citadel, which is like huge honors everything that puts you a leg above everybody. And you know, perfectly healthy dude and passed away from COVID this past week. You had a headache and fever on Thursday and by Tuesday passed. And so, you know in honor of him, it's like, man, What a beautiful guy, like a beautiful soul Bible study. Every Friday, he was first one in the office, like loved life. So just full of energy, had his own farm to care of the animals, you know, the discipline that comes in with that. It happens fast and so live your life with that expectation of trying to understand what is this goes, the world will go on, right? Like it will continue without you. That's a fact. And so do what you can now to modify the world later into this virtuous system. And you do that by putting systems in place by really diving in and understanding what your icky guy is and connecting with your purpose and Just loving it, like loving the problems that we have here because you know, if everything were perfect in perfect order, like it will be when we arrived at our final destination, it wouldn't be as entertaining and fun. And we wouldn't have this learning and growth and development and connection to a team. So again, million miles from where we started, but hopefully somewhere within that journey was an answer to your question.
Jesse:Absolutely. I think it's an answer to the question and also some powerful direction for, for the L and M family out there, man. I appreciate you being being you Adam, vulnerable, honest alive, man. I appreciate you. Love you Mr. Adam hoots. I love you.
Adam:All love, baby. I love you too, Justin. I wouldn't let you stay to my house if I didn't
Jesse:three days, right? Three days, it starts thinking
Adam:To go, baby, actually. And you only took one of the same one.
Jesse:I got two in the bank.
Adam:You got five in the bank, but not all at once.
Jesse:Cool. Well, what's your, can I
Adam:ask you one question?
Jesse:Absolutely, man.
Adam:What's your icky guy. What's your purpose?
Jesse:So my purpose is to share the gifts and talents that I've been blessed with in helping people expand their influence within their, the communities they serve. That's it
Adam:You've practiced that
Jesse:I have. I mean, it it's it, it took me. A lot of reflection too, figure out first, like the questions of the icky guy, right? Like what am I good at? What brings value, all of those things. And you know, so the first part of it is Mike sharing my gifts and talents my gifts and talents. I've been blessed with a lot of them. But I think the strongest ones are connecting with people. And, and you you've touched on it a few times in connecting with people. I've also been blessed with an ability to, to kind of, and pick up on the story that people are telling themselves and ask questions around that that caused them to discover something new that they hadn't considered. And. That's kind of been a thing. And, and so then it becomes a question of, well, why does that even matter? Well, it matters because what that can do with, when I'm responsible with it is help people expand their influence within their community and community covers career. It covers everything. So if they want to expand, you know, their, their position with the organization they're working with, we can do that. If they want to expand their the depth of love and appreciation they have in their personal relationships, we can do that. If they want to expand their, their income, like all the things, things we can do that. And the only way, the way that for me, the only way that I'm fulfilling that purpose is by sharing my gifts and talents. And so that also requires me to. To take ownership of it and get past the cognitive dissidence that you mentioned earlier, where it's easy for me to say, to tell myself that I'm less than into right. To remind myself of all the arrests that I've had and all of the shitty things that I've done to people and all of the hearts that I've broken. The people that I've let down, it's easy for me to dwell in that. But when I dwell in that, I am not sharing my gifts and talents. And so it's also a call to action. So all wrapped up in it. It's exactly that I've got to share my gifts and talents and help people expand their influence in the communities because that's what I'm called to do. Like I cannot ignore it even when, even the years that I was trying to dilute the call with, with substances, with alcohol, with women, with all of the stuff, it would not go away. It was always there. And it wasn't until I fully embraced it. I, I was in, I was in rehab, inpatient rehab and one of the counselors told me is that Jesse, your problem is you're willing to, to admit that you have a problem, you're willing to stand up and say, Hey, I'm Jesse, I'm an addict. Or I'm an alcoholic. Or, you know, all of the things. Cause I was, I was addicted to more period I as needed and wanted more of everything says you have no problem admitting your problem is accepting. And I'm like, okay, now we're just playing around with words. And he says, no, what you haven't accepted the is that you will not become the promise you are intended to be. If you continue to live life this way, And right then and there just, it was a laser beam into my soul that said, okay, enough's enough. It's time for you to take ownership for the gifts and the talents that you've been blessed with. And it's time for you to get past your damn self and start serving. So, yeah, I've practiced it a little bit.
Adam:I love it, man. You get me so excited talking about changing communities and speaking to what I mentioned earlier, you have on mine, a million miles an hour at different places. When, when we mentioned the word race earlier, like if we want to change a community's perspective on that, we've got to go to our home. Who's going to look internal and don't give me this. Well, I don't, it's not me because everybody is saying. And until we own it internally and we accept it, like you just said that it's, it's real when it's a thing and we need to fix it. And when we finally accept that fact, then we can change it. But it's, the change starts in our own home. And then it starts with our neighbors and then it starts with our neighborhood and then it gets to our town and our city and state country and our world, like that's, that's how change and community works is when folks really start accepting it. So I loved the parallel that you just brought and, and the vulnerability they're like you're special, dude, man. Yeah, I'll love Jesse. Thank you for allowing me to ask a couple of questions here. I'm learning from the back.
Jesse:Boom. Love it, man. All right, well, did you have fun at him?
Adam:It was magical. It was amazing. Thank you, Jesse. I appreciate the platform, but again, it's, it's bigger than me, right? It's Hey, let's start embracing that respect for people. And so that folks want to come to our industry.
Jesse:Ooh, baby. I don't know about you, but that was some deep conversation, you know, every time Adam and I couldn't. It w it ain't nothing but real talk straight up, real talk every time, hit them up on Construction ache Solutions he's doing some great things out there. Now it's time for us to show a little bit of appreciation to our listeners that are giving us feedback. Keep it coming. This feedback comes to us from Ms. Bernice Summa. As Bernie says, wow, just listened to the podcast. And I am overwhelmed. How can I join? And being a part of the team to do the same in my company and my country P and G that's like new Guinea worldwide, baby, miss Bernice. Thank you for the feedback. It is extremely meaningful to know. Our little podcast here that started in San Antonio, Texas on the south side of San Antonio, Texas has reached out and touched you in such a way that you're motivated to do something and get your voice out there any way we can help you get launched. I'm down. I want to play a part in that and the rest of y'all love that you're giving us your time, love the feedback that we're getting the likes and the shares. Uh, please, please take care of yourself. be kind to yourself. And keep an eye out for those little misters and misses out there that are, are maybe a little lost in, in not sure exactly what they want to do. For the rest of their life. I mean, hell I don't know what I do want to do for the rest of my life, but maybe you could turn them onto this podcast and show them a different angle of construction professionals. And they may even, they may find that it's a little more interesting than they originally thought. We got some live stream events coming up, hit us up on YouTube. We'll get more details out on our social media stuff and looking forward to connecting with you again soon.